Sperm Morphology Examination

Morphology describes the shape and size of sperm. At least 30% of sperm should be oval shaped, and usually up to 70% of sperm are abnormally shaped in some way.

• Morphology is even more important than motility and concentration.
• Because of the small size of the human sperm head, must use an air-dried smear which has been stained.
• Prepared samples are assessed using a 100× oil-immersion objective under bright field optics.
• The WHO recommends that 200 spermatozoa are counted per sample (and says that 2 × 200 is better).
• Fields for counting must be selected at random.
• When counting, remember about the normal distribution.